Grand Sonata Launching 7YO Season in Mac Diarmida (G2)

Among Nine Stakes, Eight Graded, Worth $2.025 Million Saturday

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Whisper Hill Farm’s well-traveled multi-millionaire homebred Grand Sonata, unraced since mid-October, will be in familiar territory when he launches his 7-year-old season in Saturday’s $225,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) presented by FanDuel TV at Gulfstream Park.

The 30th running of the Mac Diarmida for older horses scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on the grass is the eighth of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.025 million in purses on a blockbuster program, immediately preceding the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

Post time for the first of 14 races is 11:30 a.m. ET.

Grand Sonata will be chasing his third win over the Gulfstream turf course and first overall since the 2024 Kentucky Downs Turf Cup (G2). The closest he came in 10 subsequent starts was last winter’s Mac Diarmida, finishing second by a head, also running second in the United Nations (G2) and Arlington Million (G1) last summer.

Trained since his September 2021 debut by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Grand Sonata has not raced since finishing sixth by 3 ½ lengths in the 1 ½-mile Sycamore (G2) at Keeneland, one of 10 different tracks in six states across country where he has participated.

Grand Sonata’s first stakes and graded wins came at Gulfstream in back-to-back starts in 2022, capturing the one-mile Dania Beach and 1 1/16-mile Kitten’s Joy (G3). Overall, he has a record of 5-9-2 from 33 starts with more than $2.5 million in purse earnings.

“He’s such a cool horse. He’s part of the family,” Pletcher said. “This is sort of what he does. He’s a three-turn horse and he likes the distance. He had a pretty long, steady campaign last year and we just felt like he deserved a little freshening. He spent some time in Ocala and has come back and been training really well.”

Tyler Gaffalione is named on Grand Sonata from Post 5 in a field of 10 at co-topweight of 125 pounds as the 3-1 second choice on the morning line.

Sharing the impost with Grand Sonata and narrowly favored at 5-2 in the program is Kevin Doyle’s 4-year-old Layabout, who has won two straight races and five of seven since a maiden optional claimer last spring at Gulfstream. Three of his wins have come in stakes over the local course – the one-mile Bear’s Den and 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Derby last year and the 1 ½-mile William L. McKnight (G3) Jan. 24, the latter in front-running fashion.

“He ran very well the last time. He’s a very nice horse and he seems to like these long distance races. It has opened up a lot of doors,” trainer Patrick Biancone said. “He worked really well the last time and we’re very happy with him. We’re coming into the race with a lot of confidence.

“When he’s in front he’s very difficult to pass. He’s really quite rare because he’s a speedy stayer,” he added. “He goes fast the first half a mile and fast the last half a mile, and gets a little break in the middle. That’s what he does.”

David Egan, aboard in the McKnight, returns to ride from Post 3.

Wertheimer and Frere’s 4-year-old homebred Without (Post 2, 8-1) comes into the Mac Diarmida with a significant lack of experience but unlimited potential, according to trainer Graham Motion. Bred in Ireland, the gelding ran twice in France before coming to the U.S. last spring but did not make his North American debut until Jan. 31.

With 10 ½ months between starts, Without pressed the pace in a 1 3/8-mile optional claiming allowance and wound up second by 1 ¼ lengths to fellow Irish-bred Dirand under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who rides back from Post 2.

“I thought he ran well. I was disappointed he got beat, but I think probably the time off caught up with him a little bit. He was off literally almost a year,” Motion said. “He had a license to get tired. He was beaten by a nice horse. He’s a horse I think a lot of. It’s a bit of an ambitious spot for him … but I think he’s this caliber of horse. Whether he shows it this time or if he needs another race, we’ll see on Saturday.”

Three Diamonds Farm’s Anegada (Post 6, 9-2) has won two straight stakes and three in his last four starts for trainer Mike Maker, who has won five of the last seven runnings of the Mac Diarmida with Zulu Alpha (2019-20), Temple (2022), Value Engineering (2023) and Starting Over (2024). The 4-year-old gelding’s most recent triumph came Jan. 24 in the 1 ½-mile John B. Connally over a yielding course at Sam Houston.

Maker also entered Paradise Farm Corp. and David Staudacher’s Zverev (Post 7, 5-1), a last-out fifth in the McKnight by two lengths. McKnight runner-up Padiddle (Post 8, 10-1), multiple stakes-placed Echo Lane (Post 1, 20-1), Grade 3-placed Dancin in Da’nile (Post 4, 10-1), three-time stakes winner Tank (Post 9, 30-1) and Junipero Serra (Post 10, 30-1) complete the field.

The Mac Diarmida honors the 1978 champion grass horse trained by late Hall of Famer Scotty Schulhofer to 12 wins from 16 starts including the Washington D.C. International (G1) and Gulfstream’s Golden Grass Stakes during his championship season.